She cried harder, and he pulled her against his chest and shushed her, his hand rubbing circles on her back as her arms came around his waist. The moment reminded her of the night he sat on her desk, arms shaking as he held her. And she realized now how afraid he must have been, fearing he wouldn’t be enough for her, worried he’d come up short.
She released him, backing away only enough to spread her palms over his chest. His heart beat strong and steady. She gazed up at him, tears drying on her cheeks. “You weren’t a coward, Shane,” she said, meaning it. He’d risked everything to get close to her, reopening a wound twenty years old to love her. “You’re the bravest man I know.”
He swept her curls from her face and lowered his lips to hers.
“Wait.”
He halted over her lips, his eyebrows pinching ever so slightly, lips poised to kiss her.
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
“Thank God,” he growled, tucking her close and searing her lips with his.
Epilogue
Crickitt dusted her hands on her jeans and surveyed her new office. The desk and shelves were still in cardboard flat packs leaning against the walls of the room. But once they were assembled, she knew she was going to love working from home.
Well, technically, Shane’s home. No. Technically, their home.
Shane came up behind her then, linking his arms around her waist. “Hi,” Shane murmured into her ear, kissing her lobe. He pulled her against him, all hard, warm, male muscle. Her knees turned to jelly but he held her solidly against him.
“Who’s gonna put all this stuff together?” he asked.
She brought her hands up, lacing her fingers between his. “The movers?”
He nuzzled her neck, put an openmouthed kiss over her now-racing pulse. “Hmm-mm. They’re gone.”
“I guess that leaves you,” she breathed.
He backed away from her neck and kissed her hair. “Bummer.”
She turned in his arms, missing his mouth already. Linking her arms around his neck, she kissed him, humbled and nearly overpowered by how much she loved him.
Shane wasted no time asking her to move in. She’d suspected that step was coming. They were always together, whether it was her coming here to stretch out on his ginormous bed, or it was him taking up most of her queen-size lace duvet.
And things had been good. Better than good, great. Shane was healing a little more every day. He talked about his past, his parents, without much prompting on her part, and without bitterness on his. And he’d gotten really good at telling her how he felt. And how much he loved her, which she never tired of hearing.
“There’s a box in the living room,” he said, pulling away from her lips. “I need you to tell me where it goes.”
She sighed. She’d no idea how much stuff she had until she’d packed it all into boxes. Even after a generous donation to her neighborhood Goodwill, she’d still filled a moving truck. Shane assured her there was plenty of room for all of it, but she’d insisted on paring down. Even so, it hadn’t made the task of unpacking any less dreadful.
“One more box,” she said. “Then I’m taking a nap.”
Arms still around her waist, he slid his hands beneath her shirt as he tagged behind her down the hall. “Me, too.”
She pressed his hot palms against her rib cage, stopping what was sure to be a slow, distracting exploration she’d be helpless to stop. “Your idea of a nap and mine are two entirely different concepts,” she teased.
He laughed lightly in agreement and slipped his hands away. In the living room, boxes lined each wall, stacked two or three high.
“Which one?” she asked, her shoulders sagging.
“This one,” Shane said from behind her.
She turned to find him on the floor. Knee bent, a black velvet box in his hand.
“Oh, my gosh,” she breathed through her fingers.
“I thought you might say that.” He grinned. “It’s not a monkey this time.”
She opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t. Tears streaked her face as she blinked them away and focused on the man she loved. The man who loved her.
“From partners in business,” he said, opening the lid, “to partners in life.” He pulled the ring from the box, but she didn’t take her eyes off his. “Have I won you back yet, Crickitt?”
She saw the slightest hint of doubt flicker in his eyes.
Still battling his fears.
For her.
“If I have more work to do,” he continued, licking his lips in a nervous gesture, “I’m willing to—”